"I'd like to thank Tami Momoe, of the ICMG, for helping me organize this meeting here today. And also to the other heads and their associates for taking time out of all of your respective days to meet with us."
「Tami Momoe」- ICMG Captain. As the established peacekeepers of all matters Magical Girl, it's only natural that the ICMG keep tabs on the goings-on of organized crime. It's a little counterintuitive for the police and the yakuza to be working together but that's the arrangement the ICMG and Ozawa city yakuza have. The ICMG mediates for them, and in return the yakuza keep crime off the streets. After all, if there's going to be crime one way or another, it's better that it be controlled– the people behind it friendly and willing to cooperate.
Kiara Kuze taps her fingers on the meeting table. A harsh fluorescent light shines down from on high. It casts grim shadows onto the faces of all the crime bosses present. Someone taps their foot nervously. In spite of the ICMG presence, it's rare that all the underground rulers of Ozawa city are gathered, and under such dire circumstances too.
"From Shiro ward, we have Oe Tenma, of the Blackadder gang."
「Oe Tenma」- Head of the Blackadder gang. A girl lounging on her monobloc chair tilts her head upwards in acknowledgement. Her outfit is straightforward, no nonsense, no frills, all business. She wears a black and white jersey with rolled up sleeves along with a miniskirt that suits her lean, but not quite muscular build. She looks to be about eighteen or nineteen.
In terms of sheer size, the Blackadder gang is bigger than any of the other yakuza organizations in Ozawa. It's no surprise considering it accepts both male and female members. With those numbers, they could easily become the top org in the city in terms of sheer military strength if they tried. And if they put in the work, they might be able to take over the city themselves. But they don't because Oe knows her place. And the other organizations like it that way.
"From Aka ward, Sumire Shirayuki, of the Shirayuki Association."
「Sumire Shirayuki」- Head of the Shirayuki Association. No one shows up to a meeting in their magical transformed state. That'd be a little something like waving a gun around at a business deal. Besides, a magical girl can transform in an instant, there's really no point walking around like that. But Sumire does anyway because Sumire cares not for petty things like basic social etiquette. All she cares about is that she looks positively fabulous.
And fabulous she does look, in her red and white navy admiral outfit that compliments her red-orange hair. Her outfit is adorned with gold buttons, chains, and shoulder pads. A luxurious white cape, completely unblemished, hangs from her shoulders and flows along behind her. She looks to be about sixteen or seventeen. She looked to be about sixteen or seventeen when she started doing business thirty years ago too.
A neat little benefit of being a magical girl is immunity to age. You mature until you look to be about seventeen to twenty then that's it, you just flat-out stop aging. No rickety bones, no wrinkles, no risk of strokes, nothing. Though, that doesn't mean magical girls are immortal. Once their time comes, their time comes. Around when they're ninety to a hundred, they just drop dead with pretty much no warning. No one knows why.
Once the end-all-be-all of smuggling masterminds, the Shirayuki Association's been slowly moving away from the crime business and marching towards becoming a full-fledged idol company. The novelty of gangsters being turned into idols was enough to get the public to go wild. Turns out the market for bad girl types was bigger than anyone expected.
Though, the slow death of a smuggling ring that huge isn't exactly the type of thing that goes down smoothly. Exotic Jutsu used to flow so freely in Ozawa, now everyone's struggling to get entry level goods. If Sumire had her way, she'd have shut it down completely by now. But jump-starting an idol company from the ground up has its costs. And costs mean loans, loans mean interest. Interest that they can't quite afford to pay on idols alone. Still, all they need is one last lucky day, and they can break away from crime for good.
"From Kuro ward, Emu Awano, of the Awano Family."
「Emu Awano」- Awano Family Lieutenant. Emu Awano. A little girl with a big brain and an even bigger head. Which is fair enough, it's hard not to get just a little confident when you're holding all the cards. She has a bob of pink hair and wide, sparkling pink eyes. She'd almost be cute if not for her taste in fashion. She sort of resembles a mishmash of furs from different animals all stuck into a blender before being poured out in the world's most horrible smoothie.
The Awanos are one the oldest and most feared crime families in the entirety of Japan, the sect in Ozawa city led by Emu is only a small part of a far grander operation. They have a finger in every pie, a cut of every slice, and a nose in every business they can sniff out.
Of the Awano lieutenants, Emu in particular has a bad habit of turning even the most loyal women into her spies. That's the kind of operation she leads. Deceit, espionage, and subterfuge are her choice of ammunition. Unlike the other Ozawa Yakuza who deal in crime, the Awanos deal in information. They're more than happy to be the smart guys who hang back and let the others duke it out while they rake in the cash from their surveillance operations.
"From Ao ward, The Batter, of the Umi Alliance."
「The Batter」- Umi Alliance Head. This is the second time someone's shown up to a meeting transformed so you'll have to take my word that it's normally rare for someone to do so. Though, The Batter's reason for doing so could not be more different from Sumire's. She simply does not trust yakuza. In spite of being a yakuza herself. That kind of contradiction, that's the sort of person The Batter is.
She showed up in Ao-ward one day, and suddenly the Umi Alliance was born overnight. She has no family. No lovers. No friends. Hell, no one even knows her name so they gave her one, "The Batter" and she simply accepted it. She's a living enigma hiding behind the shadow cast by the umpire mask she wears.
She has waist-length dark blue hair that slips out from under her mask. The Batter looks pretty much like she just stepped off home plate. Sporting a baseball shirt, baseball shorts, baseball shoes and long socks. The name that would usually be on the back of her shirt has been removed, but the number remains– 99. What it means is unknown to everyone but her.
The Umi alliance is a small group of wannabe gangster upstarts united under The Batter's banner. They're situated around the coastal part of the city, hence the name. The former owners of Ao-ward, the Kuze Clan, were kind enough to tolerate their presence, and continue to be kind by not curb-stomping them into the dust while they're still establishing themselves.
Their business is almost entirely isolated in underground gambling, a more or less harmless vice. They don't extort, smuggle, assault, broker information, or really do too much. Whatever plan or end goal The Batter has conking around under that mask of hers is beyond anyone's grasp. They'll have to wait and see to see what kind of organization the Umi alliance is going to blossom into.
"And from Midori ward is yours truly, Kiara Kuze, of the Kuze clan."
「Kiara Kuze」- Kuze Clan Head. Family is the one thing that separates a petty criminal from a true yakuza. And not just blood either. Sharing blood only makes you related. But loyalty, loyalty makes you family. Kiara Kuze– A name both equally feared and respected. Eighteen years ago, she ascended to the throne of the Kuze family over her elder sister after she was exiled and ever since, she's ruled with her family in mind above all else.
The Kuze clan. The oldest group in the city. They were here when the Shirayuki Association started their smuggling ring. They were here when the Awanos arrived. They were here when Oe united the small-time Yankees in the city under the Blackadder gang. And they were here to grant The Batter their blessing when she asked for permission to operate in their territory.
Originally penniless immigrants from Russia, the Kuze Clan has managed to grow itself from a simple purveyor of sesame oil and vodka into a network protecting Russian immigrants and their Russo-Japanese descendants from exploitation. And from that close-knit network, they slowly branched out and started protecting everybody who asked nicely. They've made their own brand for themselves. If you need a business opportunity to go smoothly, the Kuzes have you covered. If you have a problem, you know where to go. They're like the ICMG but unlike the ICMG, people trust the Kuzes. And in return, they received a little cut of everything. After all, they're not communists.
The Kuze Clan always fancied themselves as something of friendly neighborhood heroes, stealing from the rich and giving to the needy (with a little extra for themselves). A sentiment that only grew once they very creatively traced the Kuze bloodline all the way back to Miyamoto Musashi. But to continue being heroes, they needed more capital. So they set up gambling rings, connections with the ICMG, pit fighting clubs, semi-legitimate business fronts for money laundering. All this solidified their position as the top crime families in the city.
Kiara sits down. The rigidity of the monobloc feels rough as it presses against her back.
"Kuze." The Batter leans forwards, light dancing along the grill of her mask. "I have had to bury one of my girls because of your niece's actions."